Written by

The Detroit Free Press Editorial Board

The Wayne County executive made his 12th — and possibly final — State of the County address Tuesday night. Ficano hasn’t formally announced whether he will seek re-election this fall, but if he runs, it won’t be the smooth cruise to victory he has enjoyed in past campaigns.

The embattled executive has yet to emerge from the cloud of a corruption scandal that imploded his administration three years ago, and political aspirants smell blood in the water. Westland Mayor William Wild and Wayne County Commissioner Kevin McNamara have both announced that they’re seeking the seat; state Rep. Phil Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, is widely expected to throw his hat into the ring.

If Ficano’s biggest problem was the lingering taint of the corruption scandal, his life would be a lot simpler. Throw in a $175-million budget deficit, a massively underfunded pension system and a colossal jail project gone horribly wrong, and it’s harder and harder for Ficano to make any kind of credible case that he should stay at the helm of Wayne County.

There are lots of people, even inside the Democratic Party, who have seen enough and want change.

And yet, it’s hard to say that Ficano has reached the end of his usefulness. In the last few years, Ficano has become one of the most articulate and outspoken advocates for a statewide solution to the municipal financing crisis, pushing for a comprehensive review of the way that the state sends money to cities. It’s a pressing problem that needed a voice. And in the wake of the collapse of his administration, Ficano has built a solid new team, with sharp ideas and the kind of determination that makes things happen.

Much of the county’s financial crisis was caused by a catastrophic decline in property taxes after the recession, and some of the rest was caused by an equally precipitous drop in state revenue-sharing payments. The deficit-elimination plan that Ficano is asking the Wayne County Commission to approve would both attack the accumulated deficit, and resolve the county’s annual $31-million structural deficit, but only if a plan to reorganize the county’s wastewater treatment facilities and transfer it to an authority comes to fruition, and if the county’s employee unions buy into some cuts and concessions.

(Page 2 of 2)

The latter could be problematic, as multiple Detroit mayors who tried and failed to get significant union cuts learned. But it’s unclear how the city’s bankruptcy will change future negotiations.

Another change that Ficano is proposing — combining the balance of the county’s delinquent property tax fund with its general fund — is standard operating procedure in most places. The change would bring the county’s accumulated deficit down to $93 million.

Fixing the county’s pension system, funded at just 45%, poses a bigger problem. The county owes its pension fund about $825 million, which it must pay down, even as market declines require the county to ratchet up the annual payment that it makes to the fund. Changes to employee contributions to the system and revisions to the multiplier also depend on union agreement.

And then there’s the jail.

The new Wayne County jail project was abandoned after ballooning costs made it impossible to complete within the allotted budget. Cataloging the problems with the jail project would take more space than is available here, but it boils down to a lack of oversight and improper controls. The county pulled the plug on the project, and plans to convert an existing facility on Mound Road.

Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert has offered to buy the site and other criminal justice buildings in Detroit, and plans to build a new entertainment district. Ficano calls Gilbert’s offer a path out of the jail debacle, and he’s right. Still, the “fail jail,” as it has been dubbed, would surely haunt Ficano in any re-election campaign — and the looming hulk of the partially constructed jail is a constant reminder of things that have gone wrong on Ficano’s watch.

So, for Ficano, the State of the County address was a chance to make the case to voters that he still has something to offer. As such speeches go, it wasn’t a zinger. But zing wouldn’t benefit Ficano, who would be best served by convincing Wayne County voters that he is a steady hand on the tiller.